New George Takei Show Recalls ‘Harrowing’ Story of Japanese Internment

Did you know that George Takei has a new TV show coming out? Well, he does! So if you didn't, now you do!

The 82-year-old actor, who broke major ground for Asian-American representation on the small screen thanks to his role as Hikaru Sulu on the 1960s Star Trek original series, stars in the upcoming second season of The Terror, premiering Monday, Aug. 12, on AMC.

The first season of AMC's horror anthology series followed a team of British explorers on a doomed Arctic expedition in the 1800s. This new series, subtitled Infamy, takes place at a United States internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. According to The New York Times, this second season of The Terror will utilize supernatural horror elements like demons and spirits in order to tell its story about the real-life horror of the U.S. government declared a marginalized group to be a threat to national security and detained members of that in concentration camps -- a horror that continues to this day with Central American asylum seekers.

For Takei, the story hits close to him. The actor's family was detained when he was young, and he spent some formative years growing up within a concentration camp in Arkansas.

"The horror of the internment was harrowing," Takei told the Times. "Imagine innocent people -- I mean, everything taken from you, our home, our bank accounts, our business," he added. "The stress was incredible."

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